Wednesday, December 24, 2008

So Joel and I leave at 9AM tommorow morning, and I am still freaking out.

I have gotten plenty done, but with leaving a house full of animals, it still makes me nervous.

This MAY be the last blog for the New Year, depending on where I can get some internet and some opportunities to get things going, but I have a feeling it will have NOTHING to do with snakes, so I may just forgo it completely.

So, with that being said, I am going to wish all of you a Merry Christmas, Happy Hannukah, Festive Kwanzaa, and overall a great holiday season and a prosperous and enjoyable New Year!!!

It has been a blast meeting all of my blog fans thru the months, and I really hope with all my heart that you guys enjoy what I write and that you find it useful in your own quests to breed and own Ball Pythons!

Like I always say, if you have any requests or questions, I am always available, and love to talk to anyone about snakes!

So if I don't get around to it, we shall begin again in the New Year with all new pics, all new snakes, and more fun and blab ala Heather!!!

Monday, December 22, 2008

So my brother was in town this weekend, so not much snake went on (He's not too into them.. How sad)

So we went down to downtown Los Angeles to go walk on Olvera Street.

And as soon as we got out onto the freeway... This is what we saw.

Gotta love the typical Los Angeles traffic...

And a nice view of some buildings...

So when we FINALLY arrived, a lot of people were there! Alrighty!

Olvera street is a historial landmark of Los Angeles, wherein it is also called El Pueblo National Monument. It's all very interesting, but I don't feel like typing all about the history when there is a website, so here you go!!

Thursday, December 18, 2008

Well, MOST of my boys are ready. I have one male that is sadly not prepared to grow up this season. Poor Pee Oh Gee isn't making any sperm plugs... Dang. I was hoping to pair him up with a couple of poss het Ghosts this season, but unless he starts "developing" soon, we may be out of luck this season.

Anyway, speaking of sperm plugs, here they are.

They look like Flying Nuns hats, and unlike other members of the animal species, they come in packets that you can just push out of the cloaca of the snake.

No magical manuevers or anything, just push (the right way). I will hopefully get a couple of photos to demonstrate soon enough, but I need Joel to help me.

They are not that big, and this photo that I took a while back is from a full grown 1000 gram male snake. The smaller the animal, the smaller the sperm plug.

Anyway, to those of you who have been unawares this whole time, I am discussing the birds and the bees of snakes, so bear with me.

..............You need sperm to fertilize the egg.

*gasp!*

So, if you plan on breeding a male, and you are not sure if he is ready, it is best to check if he is producing said sperm.

These males are producing sperm, but EVEN IF THEY ARE PRODUCING SPERM DOESN'T MEAN THEY KNOW WHAT THEY ARE DOING!!!

Case in point... My silly Genetic Stripe has yet to prove to me that he has any idea what goes where.

"My head goes under the coils, and.... then what?" You do notice that the tails are aligned together, so I am hoping a couple more tries and he will get it!

Here is my Pied with one of my poss het girls (who unfortunately had a run in with a rat), trying to get himself aligned correctly. She is not having it either...

And of course, my all star super awesome Enchi male, who basically is born to breed. He has had no trouble remembering what goes where, and THIS, my friends, is a pretty much solid lock. (The alignment is a bit off from perfect here too, but I'm pretty sure he got something going)

Wednesday, December 17, 2008

For some lucky folks, there is never a delegated breeding TIME persay, but for Ball Pythons, there is (kinda).

In an effort to clarify the breeding season, we shall begin from the beginning.

Technically you can breed Ball Pythons all year long if one should so choose, but you need to have the correct temps to stimulate the fall season, as well as some outside stimuli as well.

We are going over this as if it were naturally the fall, beginning in October.

October is a good time to start thinking about the breeding season depending on where you are and the environmental temps.

If it really is fall and the leaves are turning and you have to wear a sweater when going outdoors, you are good to go! If not (like here in Southern California, where the seasons come and go as they please), it may be more difficult.

Anyway, assuming that the weather is cooperating and that the temps are getting down into the 60's and below, you can begin cooling your animals. THIS step may not be necessary, but it doesn't hurt to try it IF YOU FEEL COMFORTABLE WITH IT.

Turn your thermostat down to around 85 on the hot side. Let the ambient temps get down to around 70. Now these are not solid numbers to live by, but what has worked out for me in the past. You can go higher, but I would not suggest going much lower than 80 on the hot spot for fear of digestion issues.

Let the animals be for about a month or so. You can begin pairing if you so choose, but don't expect much.

Fast forward to November.

Pair away! Males in the females tubs, 3 days in 4 days out, then rotate.

If you have some finicky males, what I tend to do is find him a girl that suits him. Some of these males can be VERY picky. Some like them BIG, some like them small, some like just one... It happens, and be prepared for it.

BE PREPARED FOR DISAPPOINTMENT.

Some males just aren't ready. Some males don't develop as soon as others do. Do they have sperm plugs yet? Are they sexually mature? Just because they are "old enough" doesn't mean that they will breed for you...

A couple tricks I have learned to get some males going is to put a male in with a female who has just shed. You can also spray them with a water mist to simulate rain. They breed in the rainy season, so make it RAIN!!!

Or, (and I have yet to try this, but I may) place another males sperm plug on the females back to stimulate competition, which may get the male raring to go.

Another trick is to battle two sexually mature males, but I have never needed to or wanted to do so, so I really don't suggest it.

The loser may just be too upset to do anything, and then, well... you just made your snake sad and unwilling to breed, and possibly upset with you for putting him in that situation.. RAWR. (Just kidding)

But it is true that the loser may just give up for the season, and I don't think the fragile emotional state of a snake is anything to toy with. They bite.

Anyway, pairing continues until February or March, and eggs (if you are sucessful) should be showing up in April-September, depending on the females and breeding.

It takes a LONG TIME.

Be patient. Watch your animals for cues as to how they are doing...

Soon enough I will have photos available for the second part of breeding. THE FEMALE aspect of it, aka follicle development, ovulation, prelay shed, etc...

I hope this helps those of you out there that feel a bit overwhelmed. There is a lot to learn, but remember, its NOT YOU WHO IS BREEDING. The snakes know how to do it WAY better than you do. Let them be.

Tuesday, December 16, 2008

Its so cold that the snow on the mountain tops is sticking around. (SNOW DAY!!)

For those of you not familiar, here in the Los Angeles area, we get snow. But we get snow that falls on the mountains, so that if you want snow, you can DRIVE to it, but not have to live in it. It's GLORIOUS. Rain in the valley equals snow in the mountains.

It rained all day for the most part yesterday, and I got some great lock ups when I got home.

For my friend Tim, here you go, buddy! Mojo x Normal. WOOOT!

And the Enchi had no problem getting back to work this season with one of my normal girls. YEAH!

There were plenty more lockups, but in the spirit of keeping the week flowing, I shall share more later.

And those pics I promised to upload? YEAH BABAY!! I did it!!

Doesn't quite flow with the blog for the day, but... whatever. They look cool.

Monday, December 15, 2008

This morning, I got up at my own cercadian rhythm. Too bad it was because my alarm didn't go off...

Showered, ran out the door, and BOOM!

Due to the rain, here in LA we have a saying "Instant Ass, just add water".

This was truely the case this morning. On my 25 mile commute to work, it took me an hour and a half, and I passed by three car accidents on the way. Also, people were weaving and dodging like they were the most important person on the road.

Yeah....

Anyway, I'm here, I am already tired, and its Monday.

How can it get any better???

I did, however, have a great weekend with some pals!!

We had a So Cal snake get together this weekend at my friend Raul's house. Here is some of what happened.

Here is the gang hanging out in the living room.

More people..

Raul and Heather's friend, aka the Rice guy, aka Joe.

What were we there for again? Oh yeah.. snakes.

Hey look, a Hognose! (It was Joe's)

A beautiful Sunglow Boa. I want...

Raul's in shed Calico female. I want...

And my totally kick ass purple snake shoes... YEAH MAN!!!

So overall, the weekend was fun! But it's Monday, and makes me want to relive the weekend again...

But it is raining, and pairings are together again. Hopefully we will have some lock pics soon.

Friday, December 12, 2008

I went out the door, turned around to lock it, and I heard weird pittering noises. I turn around, and its raining.

DANGIT!!!

All the males are still taking their well deserved breathers, and its RAINING.

So tonight, I will put all the boyfriends with their girlfriends and hope for the best. Plans are coming into fruition!!! This weekend is a great weekend to start around my area, because it is supposed to rain all weekend!!

Last night I didn't get much done, as we had some company over to check the house out. SO!! Still didn't upload those photos. Next week, I'll have plenty.

I am also very tired cause now both Joel and I are sick. It doesn't bode very well for sleeping when one of us is either tossing or turning...

So, I'm tired, a bit blurry eyed, a little slow, but I AM HERE.

I also want to take a bit of time to address something that has been going on in my mind these past couple of weeks, and has been a blatant offender this past week.

Please, be kind to your fellow man.

You don't know if he has just been fired from his job, she can't feed her family, or anything.

Represent the change that the world needs. Be kind. Love one another. Donate your time and your care.

The holidays for me always makes me appreciate what I have, and see more of what others don't. Share what you can.

And now, to break up the preachyness, my dog Regal smacking his lips :)

Thursday, December 11, 2008

I forgot to upload some cool pictures today.. I'm kinda sad. I spent a bunch of time cleaning, feeding and taking pics, and NOTHING got uploaded for todays blog.

Are you dissapointed? I am.

Sorry, my friends..

This is Pete. Pete started it all. He was my first morph ever back in the day, and I got him with golden intentions and cotton candy dreams.

He is an awesome Lemon Pastel that I got from a gentleman out in Florida, but I don't know if he is still around anymore.

Pete was supposed to be my ticket in to the BP world. BUT!!! When I got him, the year after, he didn't breed. I had to do a breeding loan with someone else with a pastel, even though I had my own! It was rather frustrating, and I didn't get anything but normals out of it. (How sad)

So the moral of the story is, no matter what you want to do, don't expect everything to fall into place. It doesn't, no matter how hard you want it to.

Things worked out in the end, but I had a pastel that didn't breed for the first year of his life, and I was out that season.

Patience is key in this game. Something I don't actually have in droves, but I am working on it.

Wednesday, December 10, 2008

For those who don't know Pee-Oh-Gee, who I introduced several weeks ago, he is a Pastel Orange Ghost. You see where it comes from??

Maybe eventually I will come up with a classier name, but I like it for now..

He is in quarantine with some of the others, and since those others are also there, I took some pics with them together.

Here he is with his cousin and possibly girlfriend later on in life, Madame Ghost. This is basically to show off the basic morph (Ghost) and the Pastel with that Morph in it, to compare the differences. Pastels do awesome things to things... this is no exception.

And here Pee-Oh-Gee is with his friend Pastel Yellowbelly, another pastel combo. Can you tell which one is which???

The bottom one is the Pastel Yellowbelly, the one on the top is the POG. Its not the lighting that makes the POG look frosted. That is the way he is supposed to look!

Unfortunately for me, so far he is uninterested in the ladies, and actually not producing sperm plugs yet. Hopefully this season later on he will man up, but for now... no luck.

Tuesday, December 9, 2008

Anyway, to fill in for breeding pics, here are a couple more photos of those that have been on the sidelines somewhat these past couple of months.

This is my Spider het Blurry dinker project. She is too cool, but she has an attitude. She was not happy to be photographed...

And here is Spotty McGillicutty. He's looking pretty good!!! Also rather shy, but.. He's growing into his confidence. I am proud of how he turned out, actually. He'll just be prettier and prettier as time goes on. YAY Bumblebees!

Anyway, this is one of those short but sweet days where photos will take place of news, for the most part. Have a good day!